{"id":574186,"date":"2026-07-29T18:28:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T18:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/574186\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T18:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T18:28:14","slug":"what-sporting-curses-are-left-now-after-mayos-all-ireland-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/574186\/","title":{"rendered":"What sporting curses are left now after Mayo’s All-Ireland win?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of things were put to bed after Mayo\u2019s All-Ireland win on Sunday. The sneering and laughing from rivals, the dread from fans, but most importantly, it broke the curse.<\/p>\n

For the uninitiated, when Mayo<\/a> last lifted the Sam Maguire in 1951, a priest is said to have cursed the team after they continued their celebrations through a funeral procession.<\/p>\n

Since then, 75 years and 11 final heartbreaks later, only after all squad members passed away did Mayo finally win again. Here\u2019s a look at several more sporting curses still active.<\/p>\n

\"\"Aidan O\u2019Shea of Mayo celebrates with the Sam Maguire Cup after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Kerry and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

Benfica European Curse<\/p>\n

One of the biggest sporting curses in European football is still ongoing; Benfica\u2019s curse came just as they were at their peak. With the side featuring the great Eusebio, the Eagles had just won two European Cups in a row under the tutelage of Hungarian holocaust survivor Bela Guttman.<\/p>\n

After the second of their European Cup wins in 1962, Guttman had asked the board for a raise, but it was denied, and his contract was terminated. On his way out, Guttman is said to have said, \u2018Not in a hundred years from now will Benfica ever be European champions.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"SportingFormer Benfica coach and manager Bela Guttmann. Pic: Keystone\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Since then, Benfica have been in 8 European Finals across the European Cup and Europa League, losing all 8. There are still 35 years to go until the Benfica curse is said to end.<\/p>\n

Aaron Ramsey curse<\/p>\n

This sporting curse is the only one on the list that affects the world outside of sport, but former Arsenal and Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey has one of the most morbid curses in sport.<\/p>\n

\"AaronAaron Ramsey celebrates scoring Arsenal\u2019s 2nd goal during the match between Arsenal and Chelsea. Pic: David Price\/Arsenal FC via Getty Images<\/p>\n

It says that every time Ramsey scores, a celebrity or well-known figure passes away. The first instance was when US politician Ted Kennedy died in 2009, it came three days after Ramsey\u2019s first Premier League goal for Arsenal. Since then, every time he has scored, someone of notoriety has died soon after. From Osama Bin Laden, Whitney Houston, Muamar Gaddafi, Robin Williams, Stephen Hawking, Pope Francis II and Olivia Newton-John, the curse holds no bounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The last victim of the curse was Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated a week after Ramsey scored his first and only goal for Pumas in Mexico.<\/p>\n

Crucible Curse<\/p>\n

The Crucible curse is nearing 50 years, and it states that no first-time winner of the World Snooker Championships has been able to retain their title the year after winning since the Championships moved to the Crucible in Sheffield in 1977.<\/p>\n

\"RonnieRonnie O\u2019Sullivan. Pic: Liu Lixin\/China News Service\/VCG via Getty Images<\/p>\n

It began when Terry Griffiths won his first World Championship in 1979 before losing in the second round in 1980. Since then, there have been 20 first-time champions, from Stephen Hendry to Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan, and all have unsuccessfully defended their title the next year. That includes seven defending World Champions who have lost in the first round the year after winning.<\/p>\n

The closest who have come to ending the curse have been Joe Johnson and Ireland\u2019s Ken Doherty, who both lost in the final after their maiden win. This year\u2019s winner, Wu Yize, has the chance to break the curse next year, after he won his first title in May.<\/p>\n

Curse of Bobby Lane<\/p>\n

US Sports, especially baseball, have traditionally been the home of sporting curses, with the tales of the Curse of the Bambino and the Curse of the Billy Goat going down into US Sporting folklore.<\/p>\n

However, for both the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs they\u2019ve ended their curses, but for the NFL\u2019s Detroit Lions, their curse lives on. It dates back to 1958, when the Lions traded away star quarterback Bobby Lane to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Unhappy with the decision, Lane supposedly said that the Lions \u2018won\u2019t win for 50 years.\u2019<\/p>\n

What has followed has been nearly 70 years of heartache for Lions fans, with the majority of that time spent as one of the worst teams in the league. Not even with Barry Sanders, widely regarded as the best running back ever, or even the curse supposedly ending in 2008, were the Lions able to compete.<\/p>\n

\"\"Pic: Pierre Emmanuel Deletree\/SIPA\/REX\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Olympic Curse<\/p>\n

This one could be seen as more coincidence than a sporting curse, but since 1940, every 40 years the Olympic Games have been marred by world events. It all started in 1940, when the Games were supposed to be held in Tokyo, it had to be cancelled due to the outbreak of World War 2.<\/p>\n

Forty years later, in 1980, the Cold War raged on as the Moscow Olympics saw 65 countries boycott the games, including the United States. Meanwhile, Ireland was one of a handful of countries to compete under the Olympic flag rather than their own flag.<\/p>\n

Then in 2020, the Games, which were to be held in Tokyo again, had to be cancelled altogether due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. They were rescheduled and took place a year later under strict lockdown and isolation protocols.<\/p>\n

\"\"Fans of Ecuador gather in front of the Rocky Statue at the Rocky steps. Pic: Daniela Porcelli\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Rocky Statue Curse<\/p>\n

The Rocky Statue is a 2-tonne, 10-foot bronze depiction of Sylvester Stallone playing the iconic fictional Philadelphia boxer Rocky Balboa, and is displayed outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It is said that if visiting fans drape it in their team\u2019s colours, that team loses.<\/p>\n

It started in 2018 when fans of the Minnesota Vikings put their famous purple and gold on Rocky, only for them to lose 38-7 to the Philadelphia Eagles en route to them winning their first Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

The curse was even on display at the World Cup as Ecuador fans put an Ecuador jersey on Rocky before their group stage match against Ivory Coast, before losing 1-0 to the African side. Even Brazilian fans stood beside the statue with signs warning fans not to dress it before their match with Haiti.<\/p>\n

\"SportingPic: NELSON ALMEIDA \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Brazil\u2019s Hexa Cat curse<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a very recent sporting curse, and it\u2019s one that is proving to be brutal for Brazilian football right now. It all began in 2022 at the Qatar World Cup, when a cat interrupted a Brazilian press conference before being aggressively removed by the team\u2019s staff.<\/p>\n

Due to the esteem cats hold in Islam, many believe the scene has cursed the Brazil national team ever since, even if the team decided to adopt the cat as a gesture of forgiveness, naming it Hexa.<\/p>\n

Since then, Brazil have crashed out of two World Cups in surprising fashion, losing to Croatia (on penalties) and Norway, two European minnows compared to the tradition and regard Brazilian football is held in. Brazilian football is at a low ebb right now, could it be down to Hexa?<\/p>\n

\"FIFA\"US President Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino. Pic: Eric Verhoeven\/Soccrates\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Donald Trump curse<\/p>\n

This is the newest sporting curse, only starting once the controversial figure\u2019s second term as president began in 2025, but since then, in any sporting match Trump has attended, the team he\u2019s backing has lost.<\/p>\n

This happened most spectacularly in Super Bowl 54, when he attended just a few weeks after his second inauguration, backing the Kansas City Chiefs to beat the Philadelphia Eagles. What followed was one of the most one-sided Super Bowls ever, as the Eagles smashed Patrick Mahomes\u2019 side 40-22, being 40-6 up with 5 minutes left.<\/p>\n

But the Trump Curse has also seen his New York Knicks lose their only game of the NBA Finals last month when he attended game 3. The Washington Commanders lost when he attended their regular-season game against the Detroit Lions, and Team USA lost to Europe in the Ryder Cup last year, both after Trump attended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lot of things were put to bed after Mayo\u2019s All-Ireland win on Sunday. The sneering and laughing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-574186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}